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Benson Braves
BENSON, Minn. – The Benson School District is asking Minnesota’s Native American tribes if it can keep the Braves name for the district’s sports teams.
Superintendent Dennis Laumeyer said there are a small of other school districts that have team names that may be offensive to Native Americans.
Laumeyer said the districts were notified by the Minnesota Department of Education that unless they get an exemption from the state’s tribes, they will have to change their team’s name by September 2025. Laumeyer said Benson has been calling themselves the Braves for more than 70 years and when they asked the few Native American families in the district their thoughts, they said they wanted to keep the name.
The district has until September 1 to apply for the exemption. The 11 tribes must make their decisions by December 15.
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